America. Such is the expanse and spread of the country, that the road trip has become a grand common tradition. I’ve been on a fair few at this point, and have just completed another from Las Vegas to Denver, passing through Arizona and New Mexico along the way.
Road trips are strange beasts, and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with them. You get to see some amazing things, and really get a feel for parts of the US that you would never see otherwise, but more often than not you feel like you’re never really making the most of things. Sometimes you whizz past off-beat landmarks without realising, or only find out later on that there was something interesting just a couple of miles off your route. Other times, you stop off in a town to find a failing economy, where the last vestiges of a bygone glory era are struggling to compete with the chain restaurants up the road, where people have placed all of their faith in Trump to make things great again. Sometimes, you pull off the highway to try some of the ‘fresh jerky’ that you’ve seen signposted for miles, only to see the shop owner lock the door and speed off in a cloud of dust… and sometimes you drive halfway to Flagstaff, Arizona, before realising that you actually booked a hotel in Phoenix, Arizona, adding about 4 hours onto your total journey time. And sometimes, you end up seeing some incredible cactii-filled scenery because of your mistake.
Any desire to explore the places you find along the way further is kaiboshed by the ever present call of the road, and its demand that you (literally) drive forward onto the next stop. As a result, you leave everywhere with unfinished business. Sadly, not everything on a road trip can be captured perfectly, but here are some pictures from along the way.
Reminds me of Z Nation.
Do you know the artist of those coloured rocks?
I don’t! There is more info here though: http://sevenmagicmountains.com/